Payden & Rygel Purchases 284,000 Shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE)

Payden & Rygel increased its holdings in shares of Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) by 947.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 313,980 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 284,000 shares during the period. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Pfizer were worth $9,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 0.6% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 16,819,712 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $486,762,000 after buying an additional 100,900 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its stake in Pfizer by 80.9% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 508,256 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $14,709,000 after acquiring an additional 227,349 shares during the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in Pfizer by 394.2% during the third quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 52,238 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,512,000 after purchasing an additional 41,668 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Pfizer by 26.0% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 3,105,433 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $89,872,000 after purchasing an additional 639,985 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Pfizer by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 13,118,764 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $379,657,000 after purchasing an additional 544,418 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Pfizer

In related news, Director Scott Gottlieb bought 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $28.24 per share, for a total transaction of $28,240.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,400. The trade was a 11.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on PFE shares. StockNews.com downgraded Pfizer from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Pfizer from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Daiwa Capital Markets raised shares of Pfizer from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $28.00 to $34.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Pfizer in a research report on Friday, November 15th. They issued an “underperform” rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Pfizer to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Pfizer currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.92.

Pfizer Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE PFE opened at $24.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $141.36 billion, a PE ratio of 33.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $28.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Pfizer Inc. has a 12 month low of $24.48 and a 12 month high of $31.54.

Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.42. The business had revenue of $17.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.92 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 7.07% and a return on equity of 16.28%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 31.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.17) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 EPS for the current year.

Pfizer Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 8th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.73%. Pfizer’s payout ratio is currently 227.03%.

About Pfizer

Pfizer Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic, migraine, and women's health under the Eliquis, Nurtec ODT/Vydura, Zavzpret, and the Premarin family brands; infectious diseases with unmet medical needs under the Prevnar family, Abrysvo, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, and Trumenba brands; and COVID-19 prevention and treatment, and potential future mRNA and antiviral products under the Comirnaty and Paxlovid brands.